


How's That for a Ride?

by I_is_a_freak, navigatorsnorth



Series: Thunderbirds are people too [3]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, a small origin story for Kayo and Casey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 16:26:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5097329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_is_a_freak/pseuds/I_is_a_freak, https://archiveofourown.org/users/navigatorsnorth/pseuds/navigatorsnorth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“How’s that for a ride?” Scott grinned. “Thunderbird S. She’s all yours.”</p>
<p>“It stands for Thunderbird Shadow.” Alan chirped from behind her, “She doesn’t mind Wally though.”</p>
<p>Co written with Navigatorsnorth ( http://navigatorsnorth.tumblr.com/ )</p>
            </blockquote>





	How's That for a Ride?

**Author's Note:**

> Shadow was first named after Wally Funk of the Mercury 13 ladies but also works being named after Wally Schirra of the Mercury 7 guys.

“Whoa,” Kayo looked up at the craft that over looked the main hanger.

“How’s that for a ride?” Scott grinned. “Thunderbird S. She’s all yours.”

“It stands for Thunderbird Shadow.” Alan chirped from behind her, “She doesn’t mind Wally though.”

“Wow Brains, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“I’m sorry it took me so long, I wanted it to be perfect.”

“It is,” Kayo smiled, the whole moment was perfect. “Thank you Brains.”

“Now you’re really one of us.” Alan smiled, “The pilot of your very own Thunderbird.” 

~~~

Kayo loved the freedom of her new craft. While she might now match ONE for sheer speed, SHADOW was sleek and maneuvrable. With her size and speed, Kayo was able to get in and out of places the boys never could. 

And maybe once or twice Kayo caught a glimpse of somebody in the cockpit with her. Or maybe it was just a trick of the light and mission-tired eyes.  
Shadow seems to have adopted her namesake.

Kayo tells Brains she's perfect. Brains doesn't tell Kayo of sleepless nights poring over SHADOW's code. 

Of the way her non-appearance didn't bother him at first because after all, the boys didn't show themselves for months after activation. But surely things have changed since Virgil showed himself. Surely SHADOW should have shown herself by now. 

As the weeks pass into months and Wally remains no more than a ghost in the machine Brains tinkers harder than ever. SHADOW is the only Thunderbird completed without Jeff's guidance. Brains wonders where it all went wrong.

Wally talks to Alan the most, M.A.X the next often and the rest of them almost never. Alan lets them know when she needs something or when she was fine. When pressed by Brains as to whether he's ever seen her, Alan just shrugs and declares that she's shy.

~~~

John didn’t monitor Thunderbird Shadow’s position the way he did with the others. Shadow was a stealth craft after all, and open communications could be intercepted or give her position away to prying eyes. Nevertheless, he always kept a channel free for when Kayo called in with a mission statement or in case Wally ever wanted to chat (she never did).

John hadn't heard anything from Kayo for over an hour. This wasn't unusual, SHADOW often ran dark on the way home from missions. John left the channel open anyway, knowing that Kayo would call in when she was ready.

He was monitoring a situation that Scott had been deployed to when Thunderbird S’s channel beeped.

“Hang on ONE, I'm receiving another call,”

“Go ahead FIVE, I’m pretty sure I’ve got this.”

John waved Scott’s icon away and opened Kayo’s, “This is John, what can I do for you Kayo?”

Expecting a simple video link, John was suddenly assaulted with a torrent of information. Processing the flood of data as quickly as he could, John recognised everything ranging from external video feeds to life support readings and shell diagnostics.

Frowning at the data presented by the latter readouts and with his processing systems nearing capacity as he resolved the chaos of the data stream, John nearly missed the small voice. 

“Five? Jo- John? I need help. Please.”

“Shadow? Wally? Of course, that is what I am here for.” 

John had to pause for a moment to compose himself, “I’m looking at the data here and you need to get Kayo to a medical facility as quickly as you can. Can you ping me your location so I can find one for you?”

The ping came straight away and repeated every three seconds. Wally transmitted the results of systems scan, reporting that she couldn’t change her damaged settings.

The crease between John's eyebrows deepened. He ran the numbers again.  
By John's calculations and given Wally and Kayo’s conditions they could make it to a GDF airbase. It wasn’t the closest medical but they had the hangar space to store SHADOW, as well as space to land TWO for Virgil to mount a retrieval.

“Shadow; I’m sending through coordinates now. I've got you on my scanners and I will be with you the whole time. Relax, perform your functions and Kayo will be fine.

Wally’s change of course was the confirmation he needed. Swiping icons through the air to rearrange SHADOW's feeds, John touched the button that would send Scott a notification that he was no longer being actively monitored.

~~~

John pulled up the GDF base, “Thunderbird Five to GDF Base do you copy?”

“This is GDF Base to Thunderbird Five. What can we do for International Rescue?” John's surprise when Casey took the call quickly morphed into relief. If the Colonel was onsite when SHADOW landed it would make things easier.

“I'm afraid we have a situation Colonel. One of my pilots is in need of urgent medical care and they are heading your way.”

“What type of care are we talking, Five?” Colonel Casey remained professional in front of her crew, but a pit had opened in the bottom of her stomach. Casey was one of the few who knew about the true nature of the Thunderbirds and if it was a pilot needing medical care...

“I’m sending you the most recent data on our pilot Tanusha Kyrano. Some of her systems are damaged and she is unable to turn off her craft's stealth tracking, but I can give you a projected route. She is piloting a small black aircraft, designation Thunderbird Shadow. Our estimates put them at fifteen to twenty minutes out from your base.”

Casey's eyes scanned the medical readouts as they appeared on the screen in front of her. She was no medical expert, but the feeds clearly indicated that Kayo was unconscious. But Shadow was still in the air, so clearly the Thunderbird must have a mind of its own and be bringing Kayo to the base.

“Acknowledged, Thunderbird Five. We will be on the lookout for Shadow and ready with immediate med support when she lands.”

"FAB Colonel."

John’s projection blinked out.

“Get a copy of this data to the infirmary and tell them to prepare for incoming. Inform the tower that the craft will be coming in and is to be cleared for immediate landing.”

Satisfied her orders were being carried out, the Colonel left the control room and headed to her office. She had seen Thunderbird Shadow in production but never laid eyes on the finished craft. Shadow was the last of the Thunderbirds Jeff had designed and he'd based it around Kayo, knowing she wouldn’t be fully comfortable piloting the other ‘Birds.

Casey turned on her private communicator, “Casey to Thunderbird Five. Come in John. Do you copy?" 

John’s projection winked on, “Thunderbird Five receiving. Go ahead Colonel.”

“John, is there anything I should know about Thunderbird Shadow before they land?”

“Shadow is very scared. She hasn’t seen a human take so much damage before, let alone one she is familiar with. She's having trouble coping with the data.” 

John looked at the steam of data at hand; He then sighed. "Wally is pretty badly battered herself but she is more worried for Kayo. You may have to talk her into opening the cockpit so your med team can get Kayo out.”

Casey frowned. John looked worried. Anything that was enough to rattle the normally unflappable space monitor made her nervous.

“And SHADOW's personification?”

John shrugged, “Most of us have never seen it. Alan says she has one but is too shy to come out. We’ve just taken his word for it and left her alone. Since Kayo is primary pilot it has never really been an issue.”

“Very well. I will do my best to control the situation. I'll be in touch if anything comes up. Casey out.”

~~~

By the time Casey reached the airfield Shadow was in sight. As the craft came in to land Casey could see the damage to the outer hull. Gouged, dented and trailing a thin line of smoke, the Thunderbird shouldn’t even have been in the air let alone travelling cross country with damaged internal systems.

"Stand by,” Casey told her medical team, “The pilot may still be in battle mode. Let me assess it first.”

The ground crew pushed a set of landing stairs up to the cockpit then cleared the area. Casey climbed up and peered in through the glass. The pit in her stomach yawned wider. Kayo was not looking good.

Casey cautiously placed her hand on the hull, “Stand down Thunderbird Shadow. You’ve done your duty, now it's time to let us do ours."

The cockpit remained locked. 

Just as Casey was about to call John she heard the cover unlatch. She quickly pulled it open and waved to the team waiting at the bottom of the stairs. The Colonel stood back as the medics transferred Kayo onto a stretcher and whisked her away.

Casey left loud instructions for the ground crew to move the Thunderbird into the hangar and then to leave it alone, “International Rescue will be coming for their Thunderbird in the morning and I don’t want any reason for them to suspect us for sabotage.”

Once she was convinced that the ground crew wouldn't touch anything they shouldn't, Casey went to the infirmary for an update from her medical team.

"A hairline skull fracture and heavy concussion; a break to the right femur; smoke inhalation and multiple broken ribs. In addition to significant blood loss from a multitude of cuts on her legs and torso. It's the head injuries that have got us most worried. Frankly Colonel, it's a miracle she was able the land the plane at all."

After sending a copy of the updated report to John, Casey stood in the corner of the room and simply watched her god daughter breathe. The doctors and nurses came and went but no one tried to remove her. 

In the second hour somebody brought her a chair.

In the fifth, Casey's 2IC interrupted to report multiple unconfirmed reports that a child had been spotted wandering around the base, "but no one can pin her down Ma'am."

“Don't be ridiculous man. Leave her be, if she even exists. You know how excitable these people can get.”

It was nearing midnight when Casey spotted movement in the shadows by the doorway.

“Kayo's going to be okay. She was awake for a few minutes a couple of hours ago,” Casey spoke softly to the room, keeping her eyes carefully on Kayo.

Separating from the shadows, the presence in the doorway resolved itself into a child-sized figure. The figure tentatively approached the bed, making a wide circle around Casey.

“She's broken a few struts and there's some smoke in her air support system that her body needs time to clear.” The child's form flickered as Casey spoke. A small, shaking hand reached out to touch Kayo's arm.

Realising that her scrutiny was making the Thunderbird nervous, Casey made to leave the room. There was one more question that she wanted answered. Turning back in the doorway she asked, “What should I call you?”

John had called her by two different namesduring their conversation and Casey wanted to be clear.

The figure suddenly tensed, turning her hooded face towards Casey in alarm as she snatched her hand away from Kayo. 

Casey raised her hands placatingly, “It's okay. You don’t have to answer me, or speak at all. I just wanted to know who to thank for rescuing my god daughter.”

Turning to leave, she almost missed the hoarse whisper “Shadow... Shadow is fine.”

Casey smiled.

“Very well, Shadow. The nurses will be coming in every hour or so to check up on Kayo. I'll leave them instructions to not disturb her any more than strictly necessary.”

Shadow made no response. Looking back for a moment as she closed the door behind her, Casey saw Shadow curled up in the chair at the end of Kayo’s bed.

~~~

Colonel Casey walked into her office and locked the door behind her. She knew she should probably be getting some sleep with the same certainty that she knew she wouldn’t. Switching one of her monitors to show the feed from Kayo's room, she was unsurprised to see the chair in the corner apparently empty. After all, Thunderbird S was built for stealth and jeff tracy's technology had always been the very best.

Unlocking the bottom drawer of her filing cabinet, Timara withdraws a bottle of whiskey and two glasses. Lost in her memories, she pours a finger into each of them out of habit and sits heavily at her desk.

Shadow's uniform had been a near miniature of Kayo's own. A hood had obscured the Thunderbird's face, but Casey didn't need to see underneath to recognise it. Judging by her size and demeanor, Shadow had modelled her body off Kayo at age nine. 

Casey knew what Kayo had looked like at the age of nine. 

And nineteen. 

Perhaps most vividly of all, Timara Casey remembered what Tanusha Kyrano had looked like at the age of six.

She would probably never forget.

Casey stared at the wall unseeing, her drinks forgotten and her mind far away.

A warzone still in progress. Staanding amongst the rubble and devastation of a broken city as the dust settled and the wail of the air raid sirens finally faded. Finding the only survivor. Having to drag a little girl away from the bodies of her parents. Not being able to let that girl go even when the paramedics came to help.

Jeff had come straight away after Timara couldn’t even hold the thread of a two minute conversation through her tears and exhaustion. When Jeff Tracy swooped down out of the sky, for a brief moment Timara Casey felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted.

Jeff took one look at Tanusha and fought for adoption rights. Casey knew there was no way she could take care of a child with her chosen career. Jeff and Lucy had always wanted children but never could. Timara was never prouder then when they named her as god mother. Jeff Tracy had saved them both.

~~~

Casey wasn’t quite sure how long she had sat, but when she finally rose both glasses were empty and the morning light had crept halfway up the wall.  
Clearing the empty glasses away she unlocked her door, opening it just in time to see her 2IC about to knock.

“Uh. Um. Good morning Ma’am. Thunderbird Two is half an hour out from landing. Just so you know.”

Casey gave the man a weary nod as she walked by, “thank you.”

Virgil would be a big help. He would take instructions from the GDF doctors to heart and do his best to optimise Kayo's recovery time. Thunderbird S would be transported back to the Island for repairs and Kayo would be taken care of. 

International Rescue would look after its own and Colonel Casey would look after International Rescue.

~~~


End file.
